MOSCOW — Russia ordered the temporary closure of four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow on Wednesday, a decision it said was over sanitary violations but which comes against a backdrop of worsening US-Russian ties over Ukraine.

The four restaurants ordered to suspend operations by the state food-safety watchdog included the first ever McDonald’s in Russia, which opened in the last days of the Soviet Union and which the company says is its most frequented in the world.

On Wednesday evening, the lights were off inside the restaurant — usually crammed with diners — and a sign on the door said it was shut “for technical reasons”.

The watchdog said inspectors had found numerous sanitary violations.

Foreign food producers who have fallen foul of the watchdog in the past have accused it of acting in the political interests of the Kremlin, an allegation it denies.

McDonald’s head office in Illinois said in a statement, “We are closely studying the subject of the documents to define what should be done to re-open the restaurants as soon as possible.”